To think we can renovate a 3 bed terrace house with £25k

[Woodlandwalks]

We've been approved a mortgage to buy a run down property with £25,000 extra for renovations. It's not big but has scope to extend one day but that'll be a long way off. As we have a young baby I don't want to live in it whilst all the work is going on so the idea is that baby and I will move in with in laws and hubby will stay in the house to do a lot of the work himself for a few weeks / months before Baby and I move in.

We want to:
Redo the electrics throughout the house.
Laminate all floors (3 bedrooms, 1 living room and 1 dining room)
Put in a completely new kitchen and bathroom (both are only about 6.5 square feet so they are tiny and don't need to be fancy because the idea is that's where we'll extend one day so just a basic kitchen and bathroom for now)
Replaster all the walls and paint.
Put a log burner in the chimney (chimney already fully functional)
We can't do the plastering or the electrics by ourselves but my husband could do the vast majority of the rest with a little help from family.

Does £25,000 sound a reasonable budget or are we being too ambitious
Husband says it's plenty but I don't know and he has a tendancy to be overly optimistic and I'm the one who manages our finances day to day so would feel better to have more opinions on it.

Without your husband's skills I would say that's very tight. However with them I think you could do it. It depends how liveable it is at the moment. We are currently renovating a 3 bed terrace. It's very, very dated with the smallest kitchen I have ever seen but liveable. We had to have the electrics completely rewired which was around £2000 and two rooms plastered (£2000) - would love to have the whole house plastered but it will have to wait. We have set aside £40k for kitchen extension and doing the majority of the rest of the work ourselves (however we are completely inexperienced!)

It also depends on what area you're in as trades people charge different rates for different areas.
We're in the south east & renovated a 3 bed, did most of the work ourselves, shopped around for the best prices & our overly spend was definitely more than that.

In an older house you also have to allow for unknown jobs that always crop up when renovating.

*overall

Why would a tiny, basic kitchen cost 5k? What is that made up of?

I'd do a bit of research re the log burner. We heat our house entirely on wood but the view on log burners has changed and they are no longer thought of as an eco choice so the likelihood is that further restrictions will be imposed going forwards on those who use them.

Which part of the country are you in?
Tradespeople are expensive where I am.
If I were you I'd prioritise getting the electrics and plastering done, they're the messy jobs that affect the whole house. Some of the other stuff could be done later if you run out of time and/or money.
Get some quotes for the electrics and plastering and go from there.

I would actually get all the plastering done, get the shell of the place sound with electrics etc. You do not want to be having to move furniture to the middle of the room or out of the room if you are having ceilings done at a later date.

We have renovated 2 houses, one with a toddler who then became a preschooler when we had a newborn.

So plastering, flooring, kitchen and bathroom. I think this is totally do-able for £25k. But, be aware that as you take stuff out like a kitchen it might expose other work that needed doing. DIY kitchens come ready built so that takes off a lot of time and effort, they are comparable to Ikea. Hopefully you already own a crap load of tools to be able to complete a job,

Have a look at Nick Morris on YouTube below, this is his £15k renovation of a London property. He lists everything and what it costs, it is from Feb this year.

Look out for ex showroom kitchen and bathroom as if your area is small you can make it fit . I would say yes you could do it for that , just keep your eye out for bargains as you go along .

I’d plan the work so that the bedrooms are done last. If you run out of money, they don’t matter so much and you can do them one at a time as you save.
And yes look for second hand stuff on gumtree. My neighbours bought a brand new bath that the sellers had decided not to use

It won’t be a few weeks OP it will be minimum 6 months.

Fyi laminate throughout a terrace makes you really loud. My neighbours have laminate throughout their downstairs and the sound carries through the walls. I can hear every word and every movement. So if you want privacy (and to not be antisocial) I'd recommend carpet. Particularly in your bedrooms. Plus lots of soft furnishings to absorb the sound.

You should prioritise what is most important first, so you don’t run out of money.

For example:

Electrics - essential
Log burner - sensible; will save money in long run
Walls - messy: good job to get out of the way
Floors - desirable: could possibly wait.

When do you think you will extend?

Does the house need a new kitchen and bathroom right now, or could you put that money towards the extension?

If you need white goods in kitchen, that’s essential , but if your concerns are cosmetic, could you repaint the kitchen cupboards or change the doors and handles?

Unless the rooms are unusable, I’d be reluctant to spend a lot of money only to re- do it in a few years.

Definitely doable if you shop around. However, you also need to bear in mind that you won't know everything that needs doing until you start ripping stuff out, so make sure you have a bit in hand for contingencies.

You might also be able to source some of this 2nd hand. I know a few people who've bought whole kitchens from Ebay and a friend retrieved a logburner from a skip a couple of years ago.

Loudness depends on the construction of the terrace. We lived in a stone built back to back that had attached neighbours on 3 sides and we never heard a sound from any of them.

It was an awful shock when we moved into a semi with a single thickness brick wall separating us from the neighbours, who we can hear loud and clear.

If your husbands in a trade or just handy you'll come in under £25k no problem.

Elec, plaster and painting costs are mostly labour, not materials.

Worked in construction management for a long time.

No :( pure guess work but unless you're experienced the amount will double. X

I think doing the majority of our 3 bed semi has come to about 25k, the rewire was 2.5k, bathroom 2k and kitchen 7k (this is over the course of 2 years)
We had two rooms plastered two months ago for £500 so I think it does depend on the trades where you are, get plenty of quotes.

I'm optimistic you could do it and get the house to a standard to live in comfortably with a view to doing a better refurb in the future.

Try not to buy anything new. People are constantly ripping out perfectly good kitchens and bathrooms. My in laws sold their lovely fully fitted 10 year old kitchen for £100 on ebay and we recently picked up a perfectly good tumble dryer for £50.

You can learn to plaster yourself (or your dh) to save ££££. I believe there are short courses. Well worth doing if he can.

Have a look at the renovation documentary set in Liverpool. I think it's called 'The £1 Houses'. They do up complete wrecks on a small budget.

Depends, we renovated a 2 bed cottage recently, new kitchen, bathroom, long burner, flooring decorative throughout and we spent about 35k and that was with DP doing everything that wasn't electrics. We did it to a high standard, the kitchen was 9.5k but mostly because it was a tiny space that needed almost custom units, that we couldn't get from IKEA or other cheaper places.

I'd say it's tight, and if something comes up you're not expecting it can really throw your budget. Same goes for the small stuff that adds up, sandpaper, tools, architrave, paint, paper etc.

Interestingly we actually replaced laminate with carpet, the house was so cold before., And we got the log burner on eBay but installation was still 1.5k. we also had minor roof works, flashing etc needed doing which bloated to a huge job because it needed scaffolding !

Wishing you luck, and advice to focus on the essentials in case you run out of cash!

I think it is doable as long as you don't get carried away and if you are willing to trawl the net looking for bargains.
Does the kitchen need replacing ? are the units in decent condition, could you get away with replacing the worktops and doors and sink and cooker ?
I would be tempted to carpet some of the bedrooms as a cheaper and quicker alternative to laminate.
Regarding the log burner , have you checked you are allowed one in this new house ? are you in a smoke control area ? worth doing before you go to any more expense.

I don’t think that’s enough money, certainly not if you’re in the south east. The time commitment will also be huge.

I'd think doable if you are really on top of the budget and you source some bargains. Eg. Get a second hand woodburner and pay someone to fit it. Maybe worth looking at second hand kitchen units too, you can get amazing stuff on eBay. Especially if this is a temporary kitchen while you wait to extend.

We had an electrician look at our 3 bed semi when we moved in. He quoted us 2k for a full rewire, so not too bad.

If your DH is also working full time and doing the labouring in your house in his spare time it will take many months, probably more than a year, if he is doing everything you have said all by himself.

I'd say roughly £5k for the kitchen, £3k for the bathroom, £5k for the electrics, perhaps £3k for the plastering depending on the size of the house. plus log burner, many price levels for those, say £2k max. So if your DH is doing everything else you should be OK with £25k. Are you sure there are no other issues - houses that need complete renovation often have damp issues, roof, DPC etc due to lack of maintenance.

YY you should definitely check the roof and check for damp as they can be expensive to sort.

If the kitchen and bathroom are going to be stop gaps, the thing that could save you thousands is going on eBay and searching kitchen sets/bathroom sets within a van drive distance and buying second hand units. A family member did this a couple of years ago - got a less than year old kitchen plus oven that someone was ripping out for £750. It had been put in the house to sell it and the new owners just ripped it straight out to do their own. Especially if you only have a small space to fill - you’d likely get a whole bunch of units , not all of which you’d use, then just buy and cut your own worktops/cut the worktops that come with it.